I'm a complete novice when it comes to OpenSTEP and Apple-related OSs so please bear with me.
I'm using WIndows 7 Pro and VMWare Player.

I've managed to install the basic OpenSTEP 4.2 environment, but this has lead to a number of questions:

(i) I've tried to install the Developer environment. The various Developer applications appear to install but at the end of each installation I get a message along the lines of "Not all of the <app> installed because you have insufficient permissions" and there is no record of the developer applications having been installed. So: what permissions do I need and how do I change them on OS4.2?

(ii) At the moment I have the basic VGA display driver installed, a purely monochrome screen and an almost unusable mouse. I have found Bill Bereza's pre-compiled driver file (VMWareFB) at the atomicobjects website. Now I'm not sure how to install this driver. If I unarchive the .tar.gz file onto my Windows desktop I get a folder named 'VMWareFB.config' which contains a number of files. The question is: how do I get this into OS4.2 in VMWare and how do I 'execute the .config'? (I said I was an OS4.2 novice ).

I'm assuming that when I have installed/executed this file I will have color and higher resolutions so the next question is ..

I'm a complete novice when it comes to OpenSTEP and Apple-related OSs so please bear with me.
I'm using WIndows 7 Pro and VMWare Player.

I've managed to install the basic OpenSTEP 4.2 environment, but this has lead to a number of questions:

(i) I've tried to install the Developer environment. The various Developer applications appear to install but at the end of each installation I get a message along the lines of "Not all of the <app> installed because you have insufficient permissions" and there is no record of the developer applications having been installed. So: what permissions do I need and how do I change them on OS4.2?

(ii) At the moment I have the basic VGA display driver installed, a purely monochrome screen and an almost unusable mouse. I have found Bill Bereza's pre-compiled driver file (VMWareFB) at the atomicobjects website. Now I'm not sure how to install this driver. If I unarchive the .tar.gz file onto my Windows desktop I get a folder named 'VMWareFB.config' which contains a number of files. The question is: how do I get this into OS4.2 in VMWare and how do I 'execute the .config'? (I said I was an OS4.2 novice ).

I'm assuming that when I have installed/executed this file I will have color and higher resolutions so the next question is ..

(iii) where do I get a mouse driver?

Sorry if these are basic questions. Thanks for any help.

Hello Paul: Welcome to the forum , I think the developer install problem is related to first a successful User install which it sounds like you have. Then setting the password for the me account under User , to do this is easy just click the calender icon twice and it'll pop open a preferences window, click the padlock icon set the me account password then log out now you will have a login screen and login as root by typing root with no password . Then you 4.2 developer install should work install developer tools first then libraries then other packages .

We also now have a NeXT 68K emulator project on the forums under emulators which lets you run all versions of the OS .

Openstep 4.2 Y2k patches should also be installed and once they are it'll install a VESA 1.0 VBE driver , which allows you to add color !

Rob: thanks for your help. I managed to log in as root and install the Developer applications but the mouse has just gone haywire - moving independently of my actions all over the screen. I just can't do anything with OS4.2 at the moment let alone install the patches

Rob: thanks for your help. I managed to log in as root and install the Developer applications but the mouse has just gone haywire - moving independently of my actions all over the screen. I just can't do anything with OS4.2 at the moment let alone install the patches
I think this thread will help resolve the mouse problem , I know Brian Moore had a working solution not sure about latest version, he used ms dos for formatting and looks like special mouse and network driver!

Rob: that file has a load of C source code. I don't have an Objective-C compiler.

I'm thinking that posting on the old VMware thread should help it may take a day or so , also this may be worth a try I googled config=Default NeXTStep , it finds this which describes how to boot to get to configure , you may have better luck with virtualbox , I have it and parallels working but on a Mac . I have not tried in Windows. Massive url for reboot help in detail after crash
https://books.google.com/books
Sid=dCczblScSoYC&pg=PA359&lpg=PA359&dq=config%3DDefault+nextstep&source=bl&ots=onQzq38_YH&sig=rFejJ_irxRaYaXS3_qIjER1oTuU&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0CBwQ6AEwAGoVChMI7_-Rz5-bxwIVVReSCh2aCgIM#v=onepage&q=config%3DDefault%20nextstep&f=false_________________Rob Blessin President computerpowwow ebay sales@blackholeinc.comhttp://www.blackholeinc.com
303-741-9998 Serving the NeXT Community since 2/9/93

Rob: that file has a load of C source code. I don't have an Objective-C compiler.

Thats still the right archive. You need the VMMouse.config, that's the driver itself. I haven't done this in years and I remember it being really painful with the mouse jumping everywhere but you select the mouse driver from the Configure.app and add it that way, editing the settings to match the screen resolution you're using. You'll also be wanting the VMXNet archive for networking and the SoundBlaster16PCI one for sound._________________NeXT Cube 040 (NeXTSTEP 3.3), SUN SparcStation5 (NeXTSTEP 3.3), SGI Indigo2 R10000 (IRIX 6.5.22), SGI VSW320 (Windows 2000/Slakware 9.1)

Noth: thanks. OK I've got a VMMouse.config (amongst a lot of other folders) on my Windows desktop. This VMMouse.config folder has a number of other files contained in it. As I asked in my original post how do I get the VMMouse.config folder into my VMWare OS4.2?

Noth: thanks. OK I've got a VMMouse.config (amongst a lot of other folders) on my Windows desktop. This VMMouse.config folder has a number of other files contained in it. As I asked in my original post how do I get the VMMouse.config folder into my VMWare OS4.2?

My best guess would be to mount it as a floppy image extension may be fd or img floppy.fd or copy the file to the floppy image directory. To do this you may need to initialize the floppy image in openstep first I'm guessing for dos as windows should see dos image .
I don't know but for the heck of it I may try to install openstep 4.2 in emulation on the dark side aka windows lol give me few days . I may even try the Windows 10 thingy to see if it's possible just for grins. Remember we are dealing with a great os last official drivers were in 1997! We do the best we can ..._________________Rob Blessin President computerpowwow ebay sales@blackholeinc.comhttp://www.blackholeinc.com
303-741-9998 Serving the NeXT Community since 2/9/93

I now have it running under 7.1.2 as the version I had for 5.0.2 booted right
I would ditch it because you can only run in 2bit gray scale as after installing the common VBE 2.0 driver and typing in NeXT>"VBE Check"=Yes
it returns non supported video card, the PS2 mouse driver works.

No luck with the mouse image. The truth is I just don't know enough about how OpenStep operates i.e basic file management etc, to be able to get the image into OS IN VMWare

Hello Paul Richards: I spent a few hours here seeing if I would be able to install Openstep 4.2 under VMWare 7.1.2 free 30 day trial version as they broke my VMWare 5.0.2 install completely bastards LOL.
For my sanity I used MAC OSX Yosemite 10.10.1 as I didn't want to venture to a Windows 7 learning curve install into my busy Sunday equation.
SO I used the DOS formatting and key is to add a floppy drive under devices and as primary boot device. By the way they use an fdd extension for floppy images.
set Ram to 512Mb max NeXT recognizes a 4Gb drive and mounted the CD Image Openstep4.2 ISO
So it boots from the floppy Openstep4.2boot.fdd ,
then you change the floppy image to Openstep4.2drivers.fdd
then change floppy image to openstep4.2.betadrivers.fdd when it asks to add your hard drive and cdrom drive controller pick 8 for beta , choose the 4.01 dual channel eide driver for both. Proceed with install.
Unmount floppy after install says to and restart , I skipped installing all the packages to make it faster .... pick NeXT USA keyboard ,
double click calender icon and set password for me account , logout now you will have a login panel . Login as root with no password
reboot but change mounted cd image to Openstep4.2y2kpatch4.iso
all floppy images and y2k images are available for download on the archives of this site or at www.blackholeinc.com under new store !
install Openstep 4.2 Y2k patches and Openstep 4.2 Developer tools